Foil vs. Plastic

Possibly another reason for preferring foil to plastic inner bags for these cereals is that the foil bags are easier to reseal.

At my house the plastic bags are sort of crunched up and pushed down into the box, if they are closed at all. (Fortunately we don’t (now) live in a humid climate and breakfast cereals are usually eaten pretty quickly, so they don’t go stale.) The plastic wants to unfold when released, which is why it’s pushed down – friction with the sides of the box keep it in place.

Foil bags, on the other hand, tend to stay put when folded. As you said, the cereals in foil tend to be more susceptible to moisture in the air, so it’s more important to keep them sealed while they sit in the cupboard.

My guess is that the two types of bags are both impervious to moisture while still factory sealed (contrary to your speculation), but that the foil bags are more likely to be resealed after opening.


i think he/is the kind/of person who might if
he worked his way up/in the world/for several
years eventually/get to be/a sneak thief
“king nicky”, archyology
Don Marquis

and the link to the Mailbag item in question is: Why do Corn Pops come in foil bags?

Please, folks, it helps others if you post the link to the article that you are commenting on… Helps us all stay on the same page.

Come on, CKDextHavn, don’t be too mean to pluto, he’s obviously just a newbie. Welcome to the SDMB, pluto!

This q/a leads to a question that I’ve had for quite a while… Why do Golden Grahams no_longer have a foil bag? I know they used to, up through… 93? but sometime in the past few years, General Mills went to the standard Wax bag… Anyone know why?

I hate to say, but pluto’s answer isn’t supported by the facts. If the reason for foil bags was better folding, then ‘all’ cereals would use them. The fact that the only cereals to use them are a few with hygroscopic (my word for the day; thanks, Dogster! :slight_smile: ) coatings would tend to support the idea that it is what happens to the cereal in transit to your kitchen that is important, not what happens thereafter.

One could, of course, conduct an experiment. Buy Corn Pops, put them in a standard cereal liner bag, seal that bag, then unseal after a month or so.

No, the original question doesn’t refer to foil at all. It’s “Why do Corn Pops come in silver bags?”

It serves as a werewolf repellent, obviously. Sometimes the simplest answers are the correctest answers.


Uke

Bah, Ike, that’s way off. A Silver Bag is, of course, the container for food for horses… And specifically, the one used by the Lone Ranger for his horse (whose first name was Hiyo.)

Thus, Silver Bag is short for Silver’s feedbag, although it is unknown whether the LR actually gave his horse Sugar Pops.

And then Clayton Moore (who died in the last few months) had tried to sell Silver’s feedbag to the folks at Kellogg’s, to get money to repay his home mortgage… but he was rejected by the Loan Arranger.

Hmmmm… Corn Pops come in opaque plastic bags in my town, here in Ontario, Canada. So do most of the other cereals I’ve encountered, excepting a few which come in heavy waxed paper bags.

Adding a little more mystery…